Removal from command - most deserving?

[diane]

John Floyd or Gideon Pillow - flip a coin.

Although KIA and not removed, the more I read about Leonidas Polk, the higher he rises in this ranking.

Boy, we had some real winners in the West.

Floyd came to mind right away! Him and Gideon Pillow together - Buckner was outnumbered and left holding the bag at Ft Donelson. Getting yourself and yours out on a mysteriously acquired boat while surrendering a key fort containing an army was, amazingly, the least of his sins!

One problem with the West was Lee transferring poor to bad officers out there. He needed to get them out from under his own feet and his concern was just the ANV - they could be somebody else's problem. And boy, were they! The Union could send incompetents way out West to pester Indians or man some god-forsaken outpost, but the South had really no gulag to send them to.

 

[gary]

Union:

James Ledlie the drunk who botched the Crater.
Benjamin Butler who was a capable administrator but not the man to lead an army into battle. His biggest contribution was to designate runaway slaves as "contraband of war." Grant's fear was that he should be killed and then command would temporarily delve on Butler.
Franz Sigel - did great at Pea Ridge with his massed batteries. Should have been made an artillery commander and not a division, corps or army commander.

Confederates:

John B. Floyd & Gideon Pillow. What a winning team at Fort Donelson.